film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
And kiddie flicks do very well indeed: 1. Avatar: £2.8 million 2. The Princess and the Frog: £1.7 million (3rd week in wide release; up 15%) 3. The Lovely Bones: £1.637 million (NEW) 4. Valentine’s Day: £1.583 million (2nd week; drops 58%) 5. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief: £1.487 million (2nd week; … more…
…as almost every other movie rakes in piles of dough, too: 1. Avatar: £5.9 million (3rd week; up 55%) 2. Sherlock Holmes: £3.4 million (2nd week; up 12%) 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: £2.5 million (2nd week; drops 54%) 4. Did You Hear About the Morgans?: £1.2 million (NEW) 5. Nine: £.78 million … more…
And homegrown British films make good showings: 1. Avatar: £8.5 million (NEW) 2. St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold: £1.6 million (NEW) 3. A Christmas Carol: £1 million 4. Nativity!: £.58 million (4th week; drops 13%) 5. Planet 51: £.455 million (3rd week; drops 41%) (actual numbers, not estimates) Avatar enjoyed the third … more…
…thanks to weak newcomers: 1. A Christmas Carol: £1.5 million 2. Where the Wild Things Are: £.883 million (NEW) 3. Planet 51: £.765 million (2nd week; drops 49%) 4. Paranormal Activity: £.759 million (3rd week; drops 59%) 5. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: £.750 million (4th week; drops 54%) (actual numbers, not estimates) It’s not … more…
And new openers tank: 1. Paranormal Activity: £1.8 million (2nd week; drops 49%) 2. A Christmas Carol: £1.7 million 3. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: £1.6 million (3rd week; drops 62%) 4. Planet 51: £1.5 million (NEW) 5. Law Abiding Citizen: £.99 million (2nd week; drops 33%) (actual numbers, not estimates) The best a new … more…
It’s official — it’s as easy to pander to girls as it is to boys: 1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: $142.8 million (NEW) 2. The Blind Side: $34.1 million (NEW) 3. 2012: $26.4 million (2nd week; drops 60%) 4. Planet 51: $12.3 million (NEW) 5. A Christmas Carol: $12.3 million (3rd week; drops 45%) … more…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but there’s all that sighing and sulking and brooding over your immortal undead lover to do, and that’s just exhausting. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you … more…
But Christmas Carol is the real winner: 1. 2012: £6.5 million (NEW) 2. A Christmas Carol: £2.5 million (2nd week; up 31%) 3. Harry Brown: £1.3 million (NEW) 4. Up: £.99 million 5. The Men Who Stare at Goats: £.8 million (2nd week; drops 34%) (actual numbers, not estimates) Just as in North America, 2012 … more…
Much of what might have made it appealing to true devotees of science fiction and cinema, like how it’s a pastiche of 1950s B-movies, is lost when its parodying of the paranoia and xenophobia of those films is so relentlessly trite and obvious…
The 20 pictures in contention for five nominee slots — up from three in recent years — for the upcoming Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature Film category have been announced. They are: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Astro Boy Battle for Terra Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Coraline Disney’s A Christmas … more…
